Out West Student Blog

"It was absolutely incredible to me how much I had learned," writes Princess Umodu. "Keeping the ballot measures database updated was only the beginning. Work included compiling and double-checking legislation on various topics including voter id and poll watcher requirements, as well as a brief stint in legislative vacancies."

All those humans entering the park in a million cars also remind me that working for the NPS is such a gift, because I get to work for a cause that I truly love. Every day, I am working to protect and share the most wonderful place I’ve ever seen in my entire life—and hopefully inspiring others to protect it as well.

I accompanied our neighbors, the Marine Mammal Center, to Point Reyes for a seal release. They released four harbor seals and two elephant seals on a small beach near an elephant seal rookery. It was all over in about five minutes, but still a heart-warming afternoon.

The difference between expectations and reality here in LA has got me thinking about the anchoring, centering power than unique places have. While it pains me to see things like mountaintop removal for ecological and social reasons (The people living downstream! The animals!), what gets me even more is the erasure of location.

The beauty of Yosemite will most likely dot my dreams for a long time. I’m grateful for the break I found this summer in its waterfalls and boulders, but I’m mostly grateful that I didn’t just appreciate the area. My job at the Yosemite Museum gave me a base of history and culture with which I thought about the area.

Even though I had almost no experience with the tools and techniques I’d be using on several of these projects, my coworkers had an incredible amount of trust in my ability, and this allowed me to try so many new things. They gave me a ton of freedom in shaping the direction of these projects, and that seemed pretty rare to me.

A naturally quiet speaker with a tendency to mumble, I never would have imagined myself being able to present to crowds about Yellowstone’s history; and yet, just a couple of weeks in, I’m beginning to enjoy sharing my knowledge with people, as well as learning from the stories and anecdotes they have to tell about their experiences here in the Park.

So, what did I plan on learning in my internship? About publishing, that’s what. And what would I do with my time outside of work? I claimed I would visit every coffee shop in Berkeley and create a psychogeographic representation of the city based on that.

A week from today will be the climax of my climbing summer, as I attempt to summit the Grand Teton. The day after, I leave the Greater Yellowstone Area for good on what promises to be an epic road trip to Southern Utah’s canyon country with my sister. All of this has been planned to ensure I arrive on campus in time for the Stanford Football home opener against Kansas State, September 2.